A manifesto for People-First Internal Communication
Lee Smith
Minutes
13th January 2026
Employee Experience
Internal Communication
People-First
Internal Communication
People-First
Internal communication is at a crossroads.
For decades, many organisations have treated communication as a tool of control: a way to cascade messages, manage risk, shape behaviour and keep people “aligned.” It has been efficient. It has been structured. And in many places, it has slowly drifted away from the humans it was meant to serve.
But the world of work has shifted beneath our feet. Power is more distributed. Trust is more fragile. Technology is accelerating faster than our organisations — and our professions — can comfortably absorb. And employees no longer experience work as a neat sequence of campaigns and comms plans. They experience it in moments: in conversations, tensions, trade-offs, decisions and the everyday signals that tell them what really matters.
In this context, simply doing “more comms” is not the answer.
Our new book, People First Internal Communication, is both a challenge and an invitation. A challenge to the habits, assumptions and comfort zones the profession has built up over years. And an invitation to step into a bigger, braver role: not just as messengers or channel managers, but as designers of experience, facilitators of meaning, and stewards of trust and culture.
At its heart sits a deceptively simple belief: Internal communication is not something we do to people, but something we design with them.
That shift — from control to co-creation, from output to experience, from messaging to meaning — changes everything. It changes how we define value. How we measure success. How we design change. And how we show up as practitioners in the moments that matter most.
So if internal communication really is at a crossroads, then neutrality is no longer an option.
We cannot keep trying to modernise a control-based mindset with better channels, shinier platforms or faster outputs. We cannot keep calling people “audiences” while claiming to put them at the heart of what we do. And we cannot keep measuring success by delivery alone in a world shaped by emotion, trust, identity and experience.
This is the moment to decide what kind of profession we want to be part of next.
That’s why the final chapter of our book is not written as a conclusion, but as a declaration. A manifesto for everyone who feels that internal communication can — and must — be more human, more courageous and more consequential than it is today.
It challenges us to let go of old reflexes. To rethink where our real value lies in an age of AI and automation. And to take responsibility not just for what we say, but for what people experience. It asks us to move from being carriers of messages to shapers of meaning. From guardians of process to champions of people.
The People-First Internal Communication Manifesto sets out the principles we believe should now define our craft — not as lofty ideals, but as practical commitments for how we design, lead and show up every day.
This is what we stand for.
This is what we are willing to be accountable for.
For decades, many organisations have treated communication as a tool of control: a way to cascade messages, manage risk, shape behaviour and keep people “aligned.” It has been efficient. It has been structured. And in many places, it has slowly drifted away from the humans it was meant to serve.
But the world of work has shifted beneath our feet. Power is more distributed. Trust is more fragile. Technology is accelerating faster than our organisations — and our professions — can comfortably absorb. And employees no longer experience work as a neat sequence of campaigns and comms plans. They experience it in moments: in conversations, tensions, trade-offs, decisions and the everyday signals that tell them what really matters.
In this context, simply doing “more comms” is not the answer.
Our new book, People First Internal Communication, is both a challenge and an invitation. A challenge to the habits, assumptions and comfort zones the profession has built up over years. And an invitation to step into a bigger, braver role: not just as messengers or channel managers, but as designers of experience, facilitators of meaning, and stewards of trust and culture.
At its heart sits a deceptively simple belief: Internal communication is not something we do to people, but something we design with them.
That shift — from control to co-creation, from output to experience, from messaging to meaning — changes everything. It changes how we define value. How we measure success. How we design change. And how we show up as practitioners in the moments that matter most.
So if internal communication really is at a crossroads, then neutrality is no longer an option.
We cannot keep trying to modernise a control-based mindset with better channels, shinier platforms or faster outputs. We cannot keep calling people “audiences” while claiming to put them at the heart of what we do. And we cannot keep measuring success by delivery alone in a world shaped by emotion, trust, identity and experience.
This is the moment to decide what kind of profession we want to be part of next.
That’s why the final chapter of our book is not written as a conclusion, but as a declaration. A manifesto for everyone who feels that internal communication can — and must — be more human, more courageous and more consequential than it is today.
It challenges us to let go of old reflexes. To rethink where our real value lies in an age of AI and automation. And to take responsibility not just for what we say, but for what people experience. It asks us to move from being carriers of messages to shapers of meaning. From guardians of process to champions of people.
The People-First Internal Communication Manifesto sets out the principles we believe should now define our craft — not as lofty ideals, but as practical commitments for how we design, lead and show up every day.
This is what we stand for.
This is what we are willing to be accountable for.
This is the People-First Internal Communication Manifesto:
1. We design experiences, not deliver messages
In People-First IC, communication isn’t the output — it’s the environment we create. We shape how people feel at every touchpoint, across journeys, moments and milestones that define their working lives.
This moves us from “sending stuff out” to architecting experiences that resonate, support, and empower.
2. We co-design, not cascade
Employees aren’t passive recipients of information. They’re collaborators, contributors, co-authors of the story we’re shaping together.
When we design with people, not for them, everything changes: relevance increases, trust deepens, and solutions are grounded in lived reality rather than organisational assumptions.
3. We lead with listening
Insight is not a validation stage at the end. It is the beginning. It’s the fuel. It’s where clarity, empathy and strategy meet.
People-First IC starts with understanding — deep, curious, human listening — and keeps listening all the way through.
4. We put purpose before polish
The goal isn’t perfectly crafted corporate messaging. It’s truthful, useful, human communication rooted in clarity and care.
“Done with” beats “done perfectly” because co-created solutions travel further and land deeper than polished-but-distant corporate prose.
5. We test, iterate, and learn
The big-bang cascade is a relic. Real change happens through small experiments, early feedback, fast learning, and humble adaptation.
People-First IC embraces prototypes, not perfectionism. We build small to think big — with employees guiding the evolution of the work.
6. We design for real lives
Not ideal personas. Not “average employees.” Real people with real pressures, emotions, distractions and demands.
People-First IC meets people where they are, with empathy and realism at the core of every decision.
7. We shape trust, not just content
Communication is never just information transfer. It’s a moment of truth — a chance to signal honesty, humanity, and intent.
People-First IC holds space for the difficult things: vulnerability, uncertainty, hard conversations. Trust isn’t built through content but through consistent, compassionate connection.
8. We influence systems, not just outputs
Our value isn’t in the newsletter or the campaign. It’s in the thinking behind them.
People-First IC challenges assumptions, nudges behaviour, and helps shift culture from the inside out — because communication is both a product and a shaper of the system in which it lives.
9. We are experience designers, sense-makers and culture-shapers
This is the identity shift our profession needs.We’re not message-delivery units. We’re sense-makers who help people navigate complexity, experience designers who shape what work feels like, and culture-shapers who help organisations act with greater humanity and coherence.
10. We don’t serve the system. We humanise it.
This is our power.
This is our responsibility.
This is the work.
People-First IC is more than a methodology. It’s a mindset — one that places humanity at the centre of how organisations communicate, connect, and change. And in an age of automation, overload, and rapid transformation, that mindset isn’t optional.
It’s essential.
In People-First IC, communication isn’t the output — it’s the environment we create. We shape how people feel at every touchpoint, across journeys, moments and milestones that define their working lives.
This moves us from “sending stuff out” to architecting experiences that resonate, support, and empower.
2. We co-design, not cascade
Employees aren’t passive recipients of information. They’re collaborators, contributors, co-authors of the story we’re shaping together.
When we design with people, not for them, everything changes: relevance increases, trust deepens, and solutions are grounded in lived reality rather than organisational assumptions.
3. We lead with listening
Insight is not a validation stage at the end. It is the beginning. It’s the fuel. It’s where clarity, empathy and strategy meet.
People-First IC starts with understanding — deep, curious, human listening — and keeps listening all the way through.
4. We put purpose before polish
The goal isn’t perfectly crafted corporate messaging. It’s truthful, useful, human communication rooted in clarity and care.
“Done with” beats “done perfectly” because co-created solutions travel further and land deeper than polished-but-distant corporate prose.
5. We test, iterate, and learn
The big-bang cascade is a relic. Real change happens through small experiments, early feedback, fast learning, and humble adaptation.
People-First IC embraces prototypes, not perfectionism. We build small to think big — with employees guiding the evolution of the work.
6. We design for real lives
Not ideal personas. Not “average employees.” Real people with real pressures, emotions, distractions and demands.
People-First IC meets people where they are, with empathy and realism at the core of every decision.
7. We shape trust, not just content
Communication is never just information transfer. It’s a moment of truth — a chance to signal honesty, humanity, and intent.
People-First IC holds space for the difficult things: vulnerability, uncertainty, hard conversations. Trust isn’t built through content but through consistent, compassionate connection.
8. We influence systems, not just outputs
Our value isn’t in the newsletter or the campaign. It’s in the thinking behind them.
People-First IC challenges assumptions, nudges behaviour, and helps shift culture from the inside out — because communication is both a product and a shaper of the system in which it lives.
9. We are experience designers, sense-makers and culture-shapers
This is the identity shift our profession needs.We’re not message-delivery units. We’re sense-makers who help people navigate complexity, experience designers who shape what work feels like, and culture-shapers who help organisations act with greater humanity and coherence.
10. We don’t serve the system. We humanise it.
This is our power.
This is our responsibility.
This is the work.
People-First IC is more than a methodology. It’s a mindset — one that places humanity at the centre of how organisations communicate, connect, and change. And in an age of automation, overload, and rapid transformation, that mindset isn’t optional.
It’s essential.
The manifesto is just the start.
If you believe internal communication should be more human, more courageous and more consequential, then take the next step:
- Download the People-First Internal Communication Manifesto (PDF Below)
- Read People-First Internal Communication – and get 20% off with code AHR20
- Join the growing community that’s putting these ideas into practice - Join the PFIC Movement
Because the future of this profession won’t be decided by frameworks alone.
It will be shaped by the people who choose to lead it differently.
👉 Download. Read. Join the movement.
